A pre-clinical research project coordinated by The University of Manchester, which will advance understanding of how cancer cells evade the immune system, has been awarded nearly €12m by the EU. The European Union Framework Programme (FP6) will enable doctors to improve ‘T-cell mediated immunotherapy’, which has the potential to fight a broad range of cancers.

The five year ‘ATTACK’ Project (Adoptive engineered T-cell Targeting to Activate Cancer Killing), involves an internat

Humans exposed to malaria get infected and sick to varying degrees, and some of that variation is due to differences in genetic makeup between individuals. But how important are genetic factors compared with environmental ones? Margaret Mackinnon and colleagues (from the University of Cambridge) have an answer which they report in the international open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine.

Rather than focusing on specific genes, Mackinnon and colleagues were interested in the

Every year at least 30 million women in malaria-endemic areas of Africa become pregnant. Many of them develop placental malaria, a pregnancy-specific form of the disease, which frequently results in low birth weight of the child. Placental malaria might increase the susceptibility of infants to malaria, but previous studies were inconclusive. A careful study by Patrick Duffy and colleagues (of the Seattle Biomedical Institute), published in the international open-access medical journal PLoS Medic

The progression of the artery-clogging disease atherosclerosis is linked to the inability of specialized bone marrow cells to continuously repair damage to the arterial lining, Duke University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated.

The researchers also identified characteristic clusters of genes expressed at distinct phases of disease progression. The Duke cardiologists and geneticists believe that the findings of their latest experiments represent a new paradigm for unders

But reveals little influence of reefs on land damage

According to research reported this week in Current Biology, tsunami damage to coral reefs closest to the epicenter of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake was occasionally spectacular, but surprisingly limited, particularly when compared to damage from chronic human misuse in the region.

Less than 100 days after the tsunami of December 26, 2004, a team of ecologists from James Cook University, the Wildlife Conser

Social learning and use of social information in general have been understood to be largely restricted to vertebrates. Among insects, social learning or processes akin to it have been reported only in colonial species (bees, ants, termites), suggesting that highly structured social organizations may have assisted the evolution of social learning. However, learning about predators or predation risk from others may constitute life-saving information, and not just in vertebrates or colonial insects.

This week, researchers report evidence that a statin drug already shown to be safe for use in humans has proven effective at correcting cell-cell communication and curing learning disfunction in a mouse model of Neurofibromatosis type I, a human genetic disorder that causes learning disabilities in millions of people worldwide.

Learning disabilities affect 5% of the world’s population, have a profound impact on countless lives, and cost billions of dollars, but there is little

For children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), possessing a variant of a gene involved in brain signaling may predict antisocial behavior and increase susceptibility to the effects of lower birth weight, according to a study in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Biological processes play a key role in the genesis of antisocial behavior with specific evidence of brain involvement and contribution of gene

UCLA scientists use statins to overcome learning disabilities in mice

In a surprise twist that recalls the film classic “Flowers for Algernon,” but adds a happy ending, UCLA scientists used statins, a popular class of cholesterol drugs, to reverse the attention deficits linked to the leading genetic cause of learning disabilities. The Nov. 8 issue of Current Biology reports the findings, which were studied in mice bred to develop the disease, called neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1).

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia hope to reset part of the “epigenetic code” in lupus patients and thus improve treatment.

The epigenetic research focuses on histones, the tiny spools in the nuclei of cells around which DNA winds and compacts when it is not in the process of copying in cell division. Epigenetic changes in the histones are those that can alter gene expression – and associated proteins – without altering the un

Tiny worms that can trick the body’s natural defences could hold the key to new treatments for a range of conditions, including diabetes, asthma and hay fever. University of Edinburgh scientists, who have discovered that helminth parasites can exploit an ’Achilles heel’ in our immune system, now hope to mimic the worms’ survival tactics in a bid to beat infection.

To find out how helminths fool the body’s defences, the team are focusing on the role played b

An inexpensive and rapid test for tuberculosis (TB) which could be used in developing countries has won first place in the Best Innovation to Improve Global Healthcare category of the Medical Futures Innovation Awards. It also scooped the overall prize at the awards ceremony held last week in London.

The test, known as MODS (Microscopic Observation Drug Susceptible Assay) is able to confirm the presence of TB from sputum samples in one week on average, taking one third to one qu

A low-calorie sweetener that tastes like sugar and could help control diseases like diabetes and obesity may be closer to reality thanks to research published today.

Scientists at The University of Manchester and The University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have made a major advance in understanding what makes a substance taste sweet.

The discovery could help pave the way for the development of low-calorie sweeteners that mimic natural sugar and leave no bi

A new optical instrument that could vastly reduce the amount of time the pharmaceutical industry spends in R&D, by speeding up the measurement of drug inhaler performance, is being launched by Loughborough University spin out VariDose Limited.

Heightened interest in innovative pulmonary drug delivery is fuelled by the emergence of inhaled systemic drugs and global concern over the sharp rise in respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The g

A novel “Flu Chip” developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder that can determine the genetic signatures of specific influenza strains from patient samples within hours may help world health officials combat coming epidemics and pandemics.

Tests last month on the new technology by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta showed the CU-Boulder Flu Chip can determine the genetic make-up of types and subtypes of the flu virus in about 11 hours, said CU-Boulde

In a national study of children in motor vehicle crashes, researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia report that traumatic stress can occur without injury. Looking at a wide range of crashes reported to State Farm Insurance Companies®, researchers found that while most children did well, two percent of the children and five percent of their parents experienced multiple traumatic stress symptoms that disrupted their lives.

There are more than 1.5 million crashes i